Moving towards its destiny

Pir Ghaib

At a distance of 70 km from Quetta on Sibi Road is situated a popular picnic spot known as Pir Ghaib. Here a waterfall cascades down rocky mountain side making its way through many streams and ponds among the shady palm trees. You need a 4-wheeled transport to reach the spot from the main road.

At km marker 314 on N65, a sign on the left of the road points to Pir Ghaib (The Invisible Saint). From the sign, Pir Ghain place is located 10 km south of N65. The trail leads off into a dry and barren landscape the color of sun-dried chaff. The trail passes a village called ‘Khajuri‘. After Khajuri the road seems to be headed directly towards a rock wall. As it approaches the wall, it climbs and ends at a solitary house. Beyond is a thick clump of shisham and date palms, a veritable oasis with the sound of falling water clearly heard above the cooing of doves. From the edge of the cliff to the right two waterfalls plunge 15 m (50 ft) over a rock wall covered with a great mass of bright brown and green lichens to the limpid pond below. Behind the house is the tree shaded tomb of Pir Ghaib with toy cradles hanging in the branches to acknowledge the supplication for sons being granted.

And beyond that is the source of the spring: a hole with the water gushing out. The insight guide to Pakistan gives the story of the Pir Ghaib in following words:

Legend relates that Pir Ghaib and his sister, the venerable Bibi Nani, arrived here to convert the local heathens in the early days of Islam. But the fire worshippers sent an army after the pious pair. IN the gorge of the Bolan, the siblings split; Bibi Nani went down the gorge (her purported tomb is under a bridge about 15 km downstream) while her brother fled into this arid landscape with the army in hot pursuit. At the head of the gorge, seeing that he was blocked by the rock wall, the saint prayed to almighty to be rescued. As is the wont of the Lord of all saints, He cleaved the rock to receive the holy man. And so he was known as Pir Ghaib – The Invisible Saint.

Local Hindus worshipo Pir Ghaib as Mahadev. But, long before the Bolan gorge had rung with vedic hymns or invocations of the Pir Ghaib, travellers and traders from the Indus Valley would have stopped at this spring sacred to their own gods on the first leg of their long journey to Mesopotamian marts. As the vedic God Shivaderives from an earlier Indus Valley diety, and as the 5000 year old goddess Nania evolves into Bibi Nani or Durga, so too did the Pir Ghain develop from an early Indus Valley god. But until the Indus script is understood we will not know which from this pantheon was celebrated for walking into rock walls.

The road to Pir Ghaib is a stony path. The trip is possible only with a light pick-up or a jeep. It is therefore best to return from Quetta or Mach with an appropriate vehicle. One way running time from Quetta to Pir Ghaib is about 100 minutes.